


angels landing on the shore

by fourleafchloe



Series: (i promise) i'll do better [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Minor Gamora/Peter Quill, Nobody is Dead, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Canon Fix-It, Time Shenanigans, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 02:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18681862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourleafchloe/pseuds/fourleafchloe
Summary: Time rights itself with asnap.(No pun intended, of course.)...post-canon endgame fix-it. SPOILERS.





	angels landing on the shore

**Author's Note:**

> all my iron dad, clintasha cuddles, neb and gamora feels, and stucky (mostly iron dad i won't lie) now exist in this post-canon universe 
> 
> because endgame was beautiful and i wouldn't rewrite it 
> 
> but also 
> 
>  
> 
> _let my babies be happy_

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

Too much has gone wrong.

Time is… confused. It hasn’t been tampered with this way before. There are inconsistencies, branched realities, people dead in timelines not their own.

It strains and it pushes, and then Time rights itself with a _snap._

(No pun intended, of course.)

 

* * *

 

It starts like this:

Peter wakes up confused.

Well, he’s confused a lot. This is—a different kind of confused. He doesn’t even know which direction he’s supposed to be confused in. On the one hand, Mr. Stark is gone. He knows this, watched his beautiful mind disappear from his broken body, begged him not to go just like he begged Uncle Ben—he lost Tony, same as Tony lost him.

Peter’s cried—well, almost every day now. He sometimes doesn't even know why. Usually it's at night, when there’s none of May’s comfort, none of Shuri’s ideas, no Harley or Morgan to distract him. He’s so accustomed now to crying himself to sleep, he doesn’t know if he could fall asleep _without_ crying.

Like a lullaby of grief.

It’s only been weeks. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to live like this for years.

Because he will—because he'll have to. Because this isn't temporary, because Mr. Stark is gone and he'll never hold Peter again.

On the other hand, though, Mr. Stark never died.

The memories are jumbled and everything is real and nothing is, all at once—Peter wakes up confused, just like this, and he stumbles out of bed—he's at the mostly-reconstructed Compound, staying here with May, just in the aftermath, and now he _runs_ through its halls, desperation manifesting in the burn of his muscles.

He crashes through the doors of the lab, and suddenly his mind is quiet.

For a moment Mr. Stark is quiet, too.

Then:

"Peter," he says, stepping forward, and Peter trips over himself in his haste to get to his mentor.

They meet in a fierce embrace, Peter clawing at Mr. Stark's shirt, already crying.

Mr. Stark hugs him so tightly—

Just like he did weeks ago, when Peter first came back, in what he didn't yet know were his final minutes alive.

"H-how," Peter gasps through his tears.

"Oh, kid," Tony says, crushing him closer, running a hand through his hair. "Hell if I know."

"You were—"

"I know. I know."

"But you're not," Peter stresses, pulling back. "You're—you're not, are you? This isn't some—some—" He waves his hands in a vague gesture. _Hallucination, dream, live model decoy._

"Far as I know, kid, I'm real. Feels like it, at least. As for how—"

Tony glances around and shrugs. He's got a smile on his face that Peter feels like he hasn't seen in so long.

"Well, weird things happen when you mess with time, don't they?"

 

* * *

 

For all that Steve has pushed himself through time, Time, with an odd gentleness, now pushes itself through Steve.

He is ancient, years older than he should be, yet young as he’s ever been when he passes the shield to Sam. He is a fighter, always has been—he can’t give this life up. He knows he’ll find himself back in the battle someday. But the mantle of Captain America is his no longer.

Then he stands and turns to face someone else.

“Buck,” he says in a low voice.

They both have an odd sort of deja vu. In another world, another life, another time, he is old and fading in this moment, and Bucky loses his last tether to who he used to be. They both know this. It has happened, it will happen, it _is_ happening. Both versions of the event are equally real, but this is the one they're living.

Time has not been kind to Steve Rogers. In this moment, it is.

For all that he’s seen, in this newfound reality, he is still young, still full of possibility.

Bucky smiles, something bright that Steve rarely sees anymore.

“Got your second chance with Peggy, huh?” he asks.

Steve nods, eyes crinkling. “Looks like I’ll get one with you, too.”

The kiss is sweet and everything Steve never knew he wanted. He loves Bucky as fiercely as he ever loved Peggy. He’s fought so much, for so long, always having to sacrifice a part of himself for another, his present for his past—

But not this time.

He wraps his arms around Bucky and holds him like it’ll keep them both safe.

“God, I love you.”

 

* * *

 

 _A soul for a Soul_ , Time murmurs into the vastness of the universe. _And yet the stone is returned, Soul, and you've withheld the prices paid._

It pushes and it strains and it bends until it—

Snaps.

Somewhere there are twin flashes, and in one corner of the galaxy, a woman who's been through hell wakes up in the arms of a man who calls himself Star-Lord.

In a little farmhouse back on Earth, Lila Barton drops her plate as her Auntie Nat walks in through the screen door. She steps back, tears forming in her eyes.

"Dad?" she calls. "Dad! _Dad!"_

 

* * *

 

Morgan Stark laughs as her father spins her up in the air.

"I knew you'd come back, Daddy," she whispers when he pulls her close to his chest.

 

* * *

 

Pepper kisses Tony and holds him close and _cries._

 

* * *

 

Tony runs his fingers over a few of his battered suits.

He'll never leave this life behind, not all the way.

But he will learn to rest, now and again. He has a life. He has a _family,_ one that's finally whole. 

 

* * *

 

Loki wakes up, too.

It is very strange. He did not really expect to wake up again. He had died for real this time— or meant to—well, no, he hadn't _meant_ to, but he hadn't meant to play tricks, either. He didn't fake it this time.

And yet here he is.

Oh, well, Loki muses. He's always been good at improvising. 

 

. 

 

. 

 

. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I HOPE YOU ENJOYED 
> 
> STICK AROUND FOR MORE 
> 
> REQUESTS ARE ALWAYS OPEN, CHECK OUT MY TUMBLR (@fourleafchloe) 
> 
> LOVE YOU ALL AS ALWAYS <3


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